Re: <nettime> Report on Facebook desk democracy

[mazzetta <goedel@fastwebnet.it>]

from BBC today

Croatia web arrests spark furore

*Croatia's prime minister has ordered an inquiry following arrests of 
several opposition activists who made plans via the social networking 
website Facebook.*

"This is not about this or that government or party, but about freedom," 
Croatian PM Ivo Sanader said.

Police in Zagreb questioned a Facebook activist who had put up posters 
ahead of an anti-government protest planned for Friday, Croatian TV 
reported.

Last week a man who had set up an anti-Sanader forum was held in Dubrovnik.

In a statement on Wednesday, Mr Sanader said he had asked Interior 
Minister Tomislav Karamarko and Police Director Vladimir Faber "to 
submit a report today on the latest events and arrests in Zagreb and 
Dubrovnik and to take appropriate steps if police did not respect 
regulations".

He said "no-one should be detained or arrested in Croatia for expressing 
different views".

In the Zagreb case, an opposition Facebook group with nearly 60,000 
members included volunteers who had downloaded posters over the 
internet, Croatian TV reported.

The man arrested in the Croatian capital was charged with disturbing the 
peace, under an old law from 1990 which applied to the then-Yugoslavia, 
the TV reported.

The activist in Dubrovnik had set up a Facebook group called "I bet I 
can find 5,000 people who dislike Sanader".

Police argued that his group had illegally shown a photo montage of Mr 
Sanader in a Nazi uniform.

On Monday Mr Sanader said he deplored any use of Nazi symbols for the 
purposes of political satire.

The EU is closely watching Croatia's reforms of its justice system as 
the country is next in line to join the 27-nation bloc.


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